Oct. 16 (UPI) — A new space suit for NASA’s Artemis III mission to the moon in September 2026 was unveiled Wednesday in Milan, Italy, featuring a “next-generation design” from Axiom Space and luxury fashion house Prada.
“Today marks an important step toward returning humans to the moon’s surface,” said Russell Ralston, executive vice president of extravehicular activity at Axiom, told reporters.
Axiom and Prada the design revealed of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit – or AxEMU – on Wednesday at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan.
“Our elite teams have redefined space suit development, created new avenues for innovative solutions and applied a state-of-the-art design approach to the AxEMU,” said Matt Ondler, president of Axiom Space.
“We have broken the mold,” Ondler added. “The Axiom Space-Prada partnership has established a new fundamental model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding opportunities in commercial space.”
Prada played a major role in the space suit’s appearance and the production of “high-quality materials, features and sewing techniques,” including a white outer layer that reflects sunlight and heat, while preventing moon dust from entering the interior.
“One of the things that was important to us was the appeal of the suit, the look of the suit,” Ralston said. “Something that Prada brought out helped with the overall aesthetic of the suit.”
Both Axiom and Prada agreed that NASA’s spacesuit should have a prominent red stripe as a nod to NASA tradition, with the mission commander’s suit having a red stripe to distinguish them from other spacewalkers. The red stripe is also a nod to Prada’s signature design.
The new spacesuit will also allow “much more mobility” than the suits worn by Apollo astronauts more than half a century ago, and will include health monitoring systems.
Although the spacesuit design is almost complete, it still needs to go through “a process of really intensive testing.” The design can also be adapted for low Earth orbit spacewalks from the International Space Station.
“We have a single architecture of a suit, basically a single design,” Ralston said. “All we have to do to go from an Artemis mission to a low Earth orbit mission is change the shoes.”
“I am very proud of the result we are showing today, which is just the first step in a long-term partnership with Axiom Space,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, Chief Marketing Officer of Prada Group. “I am sure we will continue to explore new challenges, broaden our horizons and develop new scenarios together.”